Fourth Quarterly 2012
Longtrip E-Newsletter
Updated: December 6, 2012
Long Thanh North Reunion, 2012
Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay,
Tampa, Florida
September 27—29, 2012
Members of the Command Aircraft Company joined with other units from Long Thanh North for a three–day gathering in Tampa, Florida. The coordinator for the event was Terry Edmunds, who did an outstanding job of contracting and establishing the excellent location for our reunion on Tampa Bay. During the period, we had a hospitality suite each day where the group gathered and shared time, music, and artifacts from the Vietnam War. There was plenty of free time to venture out and to experience the many attractions found in the this huge metropolitan area.
On Friday evening, September 28, members of the Command Aircraft Company and their special ladies met in a private meeting room atop the Grand Hyatt Tampa bay to socialize and to remember our fallen brothers in arms. George Simpson and Glenda Knox did an excellent job of not only arranging the private meeting room event, but also in selecting an outstanding seafood restaurant. We enjoyed a super sit–down dinner at Mitchell's Fish Market a few miles from our hotel. Everyone agreed the entire evening was a special memory.
Below is a group photo of unit members before the evening dinner. The second photo is of our ladies, with Pete "Liberace" Faber sitting in to help calm the ladies (Okay, the Liberace poke was inserted to show the corporate jealousy of all the guys). The ladies looked so good we just had to show you two photos of them.
One lady, seen in both photographs, Paula Hardiman (front row center), served as Secretary to the Commander in Vietnam, from 1969 to January 1972. Note the representative flight suit symbolizing the presence–in–spirit of our lost Brethren remembered at the gathering. :
This is merely a sample of the great photographs that will surface from the reunion. As new photos come in from attendees, you will soon see a link to a special reunion report file accessed from the left side bar, which will include coverage of the equally outstanding Saturday evening dinner and rememberance arranged under the leadership of Terry Edmunds.
MAJ ROBERT C. MCKENZIE PLAQUE:
I received this image of a plaque given to Major Robert C. McKenzie, Longtrip 6, as he departed the Command Aircraft Company. Since it is the first of its type I have seen, perhaps others also received a similar one. If so, please send in a photo:
COMMAND AIRCRAFT ANNUAL, 1971–72:
Alan Smith send two images to share with you. Paula Hardiman has the entire annual, which she promised to copy and share with everyone, too. The CAC patch image shown on the baseplate for the U–21 is the same as the one used on the annual cover:
There were two pages copied from the annual at Tampa, and this annual will, when received, eventually reside as the entire annual at the history index. The first photo is of LTC Robert Bayne, who commander the CAC during three separate command periods, and taken during his last tour of duty:
“Look at the photo of Ltc Bayne and notice the fringed American flag. I stole it from a two–stars office at MACV, as he told me, "Do not come back to Long Thanh until you get my flag." At the time, I was the supply officer for the unit.
Skip McGranahan 70–71’
USARV FLIGHT DETACHMENT EARLY MEMBERS:
On the day after Thanksgiving, 2012, I sent out a notice to all on my contact list from the 220th Aviation Company Catkillers and the Command Aircraft Company (CAC), regarding an early member of the datachment who also served in WWll, SFC Walter B. Waldon. This notice created numerous responses, all very positive, demonstrating the interconnectivity between various aviation units in Vietnam.
For instance, Gene Wilson, historian for the Catkillers, has a world of knowledge about men who served in our great army, and his memory is so good. Gene sent a bit of trivia on several men listed on the CAC roster, including the two men highlighted below with their photographs:
Also mentioned in Gene's response were these men, including two pages from the Command and general Staff cCollege year book:
“I first met (a) Bob Wise in 1960 when we were both in the 14th ACR (not the 15th as indicated with his CGSC photo) where he was assigned as a fellow Border Pilot at Bad Kissingen with the Aviation Section (later Flight Detachment) of the 2/14th when I was at Bad Hersfeld with the 3/14th. I cannot recall his passing before we were students at CGSC during 1971-72 - unless there is a possibility that there is/was another Bob Wise..? My CGSC yearbook also notes Jim Wisby (who I did not know at the time), yours truly, and Don Wilson, who I first met in the 2/20th ARA, served with in the 212th Arty Gp at Fort Lewis, went to CGSC together, and then passed my command of the 10th Avn Bn to him in 1979.
Bill Hall was probably the S1 of the 16th Avn Bn in Nellingen, Germany, when I was the Bn Aviation Maintenance Officer and S4 in 1967. And did you know that Ed Miler was with the USARV Flight Detachment in 1965? I had an opportunity to transfer to Saigon with the Flight Detachment, after being promoted in December and completing my first six months with the 220th, but with a relatively new CO and XO, I elected to stay in Phu Bai as the Operations Officer where I had a real job—who knows which way my career might have otherwise blown? [Gene Wilson, Colonel, Retired]”
You never know where history has taken a rest in the hearts and minds of service men and women. It is good we are able to rekindle those memories and to bring them into perspective and back to this site. One other positive indicator is that the information regarding the death of Bob Wise might not be entirely correct (date). We are going to recheck the information. Thanks, Gene.
PHOTOS FROM THE PAST:
Alan Meyer served in both the 201st Aviation Company “Red Barons,” and the Command Aircraft Company. Before these are moved these to the photo pages, you might want to see them first:
JOHNNY STEWART AND BOBBY WARD, COMMAND PILOTS, 1968–69:
“Bobby Ward retired from the Army. He and I went to Viet Nam on the same airplane. John Stewart.”
